Learn what freediving is, how to adapt your body to such a load, and what techniques you can use to make your freediving more effective. Those people who have already tried freediving are often interested in ways to improve their capabilities. However, this is not easy to do, even if you know the basics and freediving techniques. Many people have been working on themselves for years and only in this case they achieve good results.
Perhaps not everyone will like this answer, but those who accept it will be on the right path and will certainly achieve great heights. Freediving is not just an excellent form of active recreation, but also provides ample opportunities to improve yourself. If you want to constantly improve yourself, then freediving is what you need.
However, we have already said that without knowing the basics and techniques of freediving, you can harm yourself. Today's article is for those people who want to practice this sport, but don't know exactly where to start. Of course, the best way out of the situation is to enroll in the courses of a competent instructor. But while you haven't done so, today's tips will definitely be useful to you.
What is freediving?
Let's start from the very beginning and briefly tell you what freediving is. First of all, it is the ability to perform any actions under water while holding the breath. It should be remembered that the human body breathes on average 20–100 times per minute. This indicator is primarily influenced by the work that is being performed.
Any activity in the absence of breathing is unnatural for the body and contrary to basic instincts. All this suggests that freediving should primarily be considered from the point of view of body adaptation, and not strength training. In this case, the size of the muscles does not matter if a person is unable to work under conditions of oxygen deficiency.
The duration of the adaptation process depends on many factors and primarily on the characteristics of your body. However, anyone can become a good freediver, but it may take longer. Of course, this is only possible if you yourself want it. It should also be noted that the differences in the rate of adaptation of the organism are not so great.
How to adapt the body to work in conditions of oxygen deficiency?
Any workout is a creative process. It doesn't matter what indicators you want to develop - endurance, strength, pumping muscles, etc. in relation to freediving, the training process consists in teaching the body and brain to work actively in conditions of a lack of oxygen. Remember, you have to be patient, because adaptation takes a long time. In no case should you force events and force the body to do what it is not yet ready for. If you want to become a good freediver, you must first of all be patient.
Better to start with workouts near the surface. You should not dive right away, counting on faster progress. Swimming underwater for fixed periods of time while holding your breath is an excellent training session. First, you need to decide on the distance that you need to overcome in conditions of oxygen deficiency. Moreover, the conditions should be favorable.
For example, you use long fins and spend a lot of time ventilating your lungs. This scenario should be repeated by you many times until you can carry it out with maximum ease. Only then can the workout be made more difficult. However, this does not apply to increasing the swimming distance, which should remain the same.
It is best to create a less comfortable environment for yourself. For example, use short fins, reduce the duration of pauses between swims, and completely abandon fins. You can also combine all of the above conditions. When, after increasing the complexity of the training conditions, you begin to easily cope with the task, you can think about increasing the distance.
In this case, you have to start all over again - work in comfortable conditions, and then complicate them according to the scheme described above. As we have said, you cannot try to dramatically accelerate progress. If you feel tired, you need to rest well and only then continue the training. When you overcome a new distance even in comfortable conditions with great difficulty, you should think about rolling back to the previous parameters of the lesson. If you feel unwell, then training is not at all worth it.
Once again, I want to say that your progress should be slow. Only in this case can you achieve great results. Otherwise, you can harm the body. When the body is overextended, it takes longer to recover. This in turn negatively affects overall progress.
It is quite obvious that a freediving training is not all about diving. You have to pay attention to your muscles. Your body should be flexible and resilient at the same time. In this case, it is necessary to pump all the muscles, and not just the legs. Sometimes people pay special attention to training the lower extremities, since during the dive it is they who do the main work.
However, this is not the correct approach. However, big muscles are completely unnecessary in freediving, because this is not bodybuilding. It is necessary to understand that the more muscle mass, the more oxygen the body consumes. After you have achieved a balance between physical fitness and the ability to perform well at the surface of the water, you can move on to training at sea.
Freediving Fundamentals and Technique: Planning Your Training Process
Perhaps it is the planning of the training process that is the most entertaining part of freediving. Of course, if you have the opportunity to use the services of a professional instructor, it will be just great. This will allow you to get your hands on a quality workout program designed specifically for you. However, good results can be achieved through self-study. If you are determined and want to achieve great results in diving, we recommend using the following training rules:
- Pool - three workouts per week.
- Gym - two sessions over seven days.
Thus, during the week you will practice five times, and two days should be devoted to rest. Remember. Rest is one of the important components of the training process. We recommend alternating your pool and gym sessions to keep your workout varied.
As a result, the body will work in different modes, which will allow it to recover faster. Pool sessions should be 45 minutes to 1.5 hours long, and strength training should be 0.5 to 1 hour long. You should plan these workouts in such a way that the loads increase gradually. Start with simple exercises and gradually move on to more complex ones. Finish your activities simple again.
Pool training
Considering all of the above recommendations, you can start your pool sessions with five dives at a distance of 25 meters. Use long fins at this time. Rest for at least 120 seconds between each rep. After that, you can work again at the same distance, but use already short fins. The next exercise is diving without fins, done three times. Owl repeat the exercise, but rest only 60 seconds between repetitions.
After that, roll back the intensity of the training and swim 25 meters five times with long fins, resting 120 seconds between repetitions. You must monitor the state of your body and if the training described above is easy for you, you can complicate them. An excellent choice in the final stage of your workout can be to do a similar number of swims that were used at the beginning of the workout. The only change will be the absence of the most difficult working conditions for you.
Don't limit yourself to simple exercises as they are great for polishing your technique. The example of a training program we have considered above is an example, and you not only can, but also must adapt it for yourself. To determine the optimal length of the distance, you need to start with the minimum. The optimal one will be the one that you comfortably overcome with the minimum speed.
Remember that before the main part of each workout, you need to do a good warm-up, and at the end of the training - a cool-down. As a result, you will be able to prepare the body for stress, and then speed up the processes of utilization of toxins, which will accumulate in the body throughout the entire session.
Power training
Strength training should be organized according to a two-day split system - work on the muscles of the upper body for one day, and then work on the bottom. If your fitness level is not encouraging, then work with free weights. Then you can connect simulators to work or continue to perform the basic ones. The working weight should be about 70 percent of the maximum, and perform all exercises in three sets with 15-20 repetitions.
You should rest 60 to 120 seconds between sets. Recall that in order to determine the optimal working weight, you first need to find the maximum. This will be the weight of the sports equipment that you can lift once. It is also called the one-repetition maximum.
Surely you want to have a beautiful figure and therefore you need to pay sufficient attention to all the muscles of the body. If you have enough time to train, do two basic movements for each muscle group. It is no coincidence that we recommend training at 70 percent maximum working weight using a multi-rep mode. This allows you to constantly build up strength parameters, but does not cause a rapid increase in muscle mass.
Cardio training
You also need to take the time to work out your heart muscle, and cardio sessions are the best way to do this. Aerobic workouts should be done twice a week, and their maximum duration is 20-30 minutes. Choose any type of aerobic activity, such as running or an exercise bike. It doesn't really matter. The most effective workouts are done at an intensity of 65 percent of your maximum heart rate. However, you shouldn't combine your cardio session with a pool session. It is better to conduct them simultaneously with strength training.
More on the basics of freediving in the following video:
